Smoking is... good?

[Mr. Premise]

In the U.S., you can mailorder Kentucky Select as discussed above. They sell an organic dual-purpose pipe/cigarette tobacco that is really inexpensive. You can get 5 pounds for $100. It does have some organic agave nectar added (some people think sugar in tobacco increases health risk) and two organic essential oils (prune and vanilla). It is grown by Organic Smoke, Inc.

Thanks Mr. Premise, I'm going to try their organic pipe tobacco (I keep trying to smoke, but I'm not very good at it...) :)

I like the taste and it's milder and not as much nicotine as American Spirit. I, too, was never a good smoker, but this week I got some tubes with filters and an injector, mostly because I didn't like smoking what looks like a joint in the designated smoking areas in front of corporate office buildings! But I found a great benefit to the filters. I don't get that heavy, uncoordinated feeling after smoking, it's easier on the lungs, and you don't reek as bad. I can smoke a lot more now than when I was smoking unfiltered. I don't know, maybe it filters out the harmaline, or more likely maybe the tars are what blocks oxygen to the brain. So I guess it wasn't the nicotine I was having a problem with.

The other thing is there is such a difference when you are not getting all those toxins, pesticides and other junk you get in the industrial cigarettes. My throat and lungs feel fine.

 

[Aneke]

Thank you, Rabelais, for the informative post! I'd suspected as much... Commercial cigarettes are about the equivalent of low-grade plywood in the lumber industry, it seems.

For a while I couldn't find any organic AS that weren't outrageously expensive- I could hardly justify spending $9.25 a pack for them- and I smoked the occasional commercial instead. Wow do I regret that now

Luckily I finally figured out that the local Indian casino sells organic AS for less than a pack of Marlboro's elsewhere, so I've been happily smoking those. I'm suspicious of them, but they are the lesser of many evils, I suppose. New goal this summer: learn to roll my own.

 

[Ares]

Thanks Rabelais for sharing some passages from that book. I do know the commercial cigarettes should be avoided, but sometimes there is no other option and you need to have a smoke :( perhaps I should seriously look at growing my own....hmm i wonder if this can be done in a pot, instead of in a garden (I live in a high rise building)?

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I was feeling very anxious today and decided to buy some American Spirit cigarettes. The stories on this thread have inspired me for a while now so I thought smoking might help. I think that smoking might have actually prevented me from getting a panic attack earlier, because my symptoms have been gone since I smoked it! My racing heart, shortness of breath, shaky body, etc, are all still gone, but I didn't get the panic attack, do EE or take Xanax either, WOW! :D I need to quit Xanax now...maybe I can trade it for cigarettes! Hmm...

 

[Rabelais]

I need to quit Xanax now...maybe I can trade it for cigarettes! Hmm...

Indeed you do need to drop Xanax immediately. Its seriously bad ju ju. Why have you not tried EE? When performed properly, EE will address all of the physical reasons for taking Benzodiazepines... and so much more.

 

[Rabelais]

Well, from a risk mitigation perspective, you are better off smoking additive free than commercial, whole leaf additive free than just additive free, and certified organic over those.

I wonder if we may soon see cooperative farms and curing stations pop up.

Gonzo

Additive free only means that nothing is added in the processing stage. You can still be getting lethal doses of pesticides and herbicides and fungicides applied during growing. The only way to be safe is with real organic products.

In Drake's book, at the end, he describes how one can set up a growing operation, using the existing federal laws regarding "sharecropping" to exempt one from taxation on any capital improvements to property for this purpose. This covers everything right down to the farm truck. It is a pretty interesting concept and puts a small operation well within the financial realm of do-ability for one who already has a patch of land, or one who is thinking about buying land. The book also outlines the best type of land one should look for and how to prepare it for a tobacco operation... using the wisdom of the Native Americans and the experience of the later new world growers. Be that co-op farm you wish to see. A reasonable living is to be made while doing something beneficial for humanity.

"When one is on the right pathway, the livelihood and the quest merge
beautifully.” ~~ Cassiopaeans 11-7-98

I can be quite picky... so I just ordered 4 packs of Yuma Organic tobacco from this German website: Click I'm wondering if it will have any different effect on me.

I am now smoking Yuma Organic. It is almost indistinguishable from American Spirit in flavor and "satisfaction".

I also sent an e-mail to Mother Earth to ask whether they ship abroad, and if so, how much it'd cost.

I would be most interested to hear what you find out.

 

[Oxajil]

I am now smoking Yuma Organic. It is almost indistinguishable from American Spirit in flavor and "satisfaction".

Nice!! Well I'm not going to receive the Yuma Organic tobacco, I was sent an e-mail (by the German company) saying they can't ship it to me, only to an address in Germany. I didn't know shipping tobacco abroad is illegal in Europe?

I would be most interested to hear what you find out.

It seems they only sell tobacco to people who do certain ceremonies.

Seems like I'm back on American Spirit for now!

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I need to quit Xanax now...maybe I can trade it for cigarettes! Hmm...

Indeed you do need to drop Xanax immediately. Its seriously bad ju ju. Why have you not tried EE? When performed properly, EE will address all of the physical reasons for taking Benzodiazepines... and so much more.

Yes I do EE, Rabelais, thanks for mentioning it! I can't be self-defeating, but I'm scared to throw them away right now. Maybe knowing I have cigarettes around will help me to be able to let go of this powerful drug. I am working to get off of Xanax and Zoloft...I will get there. I have to. My body deserves that.

 

[Bar Kochba]

I need to quit Xanax now...maybe I can trade it for cigarettes! Hmm...

Be careful with stopping Xanax. Ask a doctor about "coming down" in dosage slowly, if you have been on it for a few months or more. Seizures and worse can result in stopping Xanax "cold turkey."

 

[ScarletBegonias]

I need to quit Xanax now...maybe I can trade it for cigarettes! Hmm...

Be careful with stopping Xanax. Ask a doctor about "coming down" in dosage slowly, if you have been on it for a few months or more. Seizures and worse can result in stopping Xanax "cold turkey."

Thanks Bar Kochba, I recognize it's a very powerful drug and a seizure would be really scary. I only take a few a month, if that, but I took one recently after a long while and the side effects were really noticeable. They have been my little "blue pill" back-up plan and have helped prevent panic attacks, but I just know I can live without them, hopefully sooner than later.

 

[Bar Kochba]

That is good that you only take a few a month, and not every day. You may not be physically addicted, which would be great news. My mother has been prescribed Xanax for 20 years or so, and has tried many times to get off them. She failed every time and has now given up hope of ever stopping. I know that one must want to stop with their entire being, and she does not understand that.

 

[Galaxia2002]

Whoa Rebelais I am thinking in the same before I read your post! I am a new smoker and I start with drum light, I ordered Kentucky select, but while it arrived I tried an commercial brand of my country, and at the three days I got bronchospasm!. I am sure that is that sheet tobacco and just arrived the K.S I tried it and no problem. But I noted something, in the KS comes some stem sticks and in one of the cigarettes I put this stick, it was a big oen, then I smoked and immediately again I get bronchospasm symptoms!!. My conclusion is: the only part that is "smokable" of the plant is the leaves and the rest can contain natural compounds that are not good for the lungs!. I also are using a filter called tar gard, is amazing the amount of tar it gets!

 

[Psalehesost]

The effects of nicotine by itself are much different than the effects of smoked tobacco. I think the main difference may be the harmaline alkaloids in tobacco, which are monoamine oxidase inhibitors. [...] Maybe this is what helps alter DNA in the way that the Cs referenced.

I think MAOIs may be a big part of the reason for the difference between snus and smoked tobacco. It may also explain why the N. rustica I'm smoking is so satisfying, since compared to N. tabacum, N. rustica has significantly higher MAOI levels.

 

[ScarletBegonias]

That is good that you only take a few a month, and not every day. You may not be physically addicted, which would be great news. My mother has been prescribed Xanax for 20 years or so, and has tried many times to get off them. She failed every time and has now given up hope of ever stopping. I know that one must want to stop with their entire being, and she does not understand that.

I wish your mother strength, Bar Kochba!

So, I'm thinking of buying electric cigarettes and have read up on this thread that they aren't discouraged. I "smoked" my friend's electric cig a couple years ago and it was a lot like a cigarette to me. I really enjoyed it! Has anyone tried electric cigarettes recently? I'm looking at this brand right now: _http://www.southbeachsmoke.com/

 

[Cosmos]

the believe that smoking tobacco is a bad thing seems to be on of the best developed programs in the world today.
it's amazing to see that even smart people who supposedly trying to think out of the box don't grasp this.
I mean almost everybody I encountered not even questions this believe (except the people of this forum).

when you are on a certain point, where it seems that almost everything that is labeled as healthy or good in the mainstream world today is in reality rather the opposit, then this common believe about tobacco makes you wonder if that's really the case at all.
it's amazing to see how good the PTB can twist the minds of so many people in this matter.